Stage Kisses
by melody106
Summary: LJ set in their 6th year at Hogwarts. Flitwick puts on a musical, and the drama begins! rated T for later chapters
1. flitwick's putting on a musical

"Lily!"

Alice grabbed Lily's arm excitedly and whirled her round.

"Have you seen what's on the notice board?"

Slightly wary, Lily Evans shook her head.

The last time Alice had been excited over something on the notice board it had resulted in a broken arm. Lily had guessed Muggle games of soccer weren't her thing, even if they were with the marauders. She smiled to herself, imagining what Alice would say if she had known that, despite her outwards reluctance to spend time with the marauders, Lily inwardly quite enjoyed it. Sirius was a jerk, but hey, who wouldn't be coming from a family of Slytherins? Peter was a bit annoying, but otherwise ok, Remus was positively sweet, and James was…well…what? Sometimes Lily found herself, despite her carefully constructed mask of hostility, enjoying his company, seeking his approval, thrilling to his touch.

She hid all this however - Alice would just obsess over it – and said, "Yeah, Gryffindor Quidditch practice at 6:30 on Tuesday, I know. I'm not going to watch it, it will only encourage-"

"No! It's not that!"

Lily was surprised. Usually, Alice loved an opportunity to watch the guys playing Quidditch or, more specifically, to watch Frank Longbottom playing Quidditch. She seemed to have the misled mindset that just because SHE loved everything to do with Frank, everyone else must love those things too. Unfortunately for Lily, 'those things', included James Potter.

"What then?" she asked, in a reluctant yet curious voice.

"Flitwick's putting on a musical!"

"Oh Alice," she said, with a touch of sarcasm in her tone, "of _course_ I'll come and watch you in it! But I'm running late for transfiguration and I really need to-"

"Not me, idiot, you!"

"Um, what?"

"Come on Lily, you're a great singer! It'll be fun!"

"No Alice, I already have enough work to do, what with prefect duties and all."

"Lily, at least try out for it. I don't want to go alone!"

"You won't be alone! Frank will go if you - "

"Lily, you and I both know that Frank is tone deaf. On top of that he cannot act to save his life. I doubt he's going to - "

"He will go if you convince him convincingly enough."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that hypothetically if you were to hypothetically do with him what you hypothetically did last Tuesday night, then he might…" Lily trailed off suggestively.

"LILY!!! How do you know about that?!"

"I thought we were speaking hypothetically here?"

"Just do it, OK?" Alice snapped, trying to bring the conversation back to the musical.

"Is that how you convinced Frank to - "

"Lily, SHUT UP!"

"Ok, ok!"

"So will you do it with me?"

"Eeeewww! she put on a high pitched whine , echoing the second year girl they had heard the previous day in the library. "Alice, that's SO gross. Besides, what would Frank say?"

"Oh Lily, act your age for a minute, will you? Come and audition with me, please?"

"Hmmmm," Lily pretended to think. In truth she was only teasing. This musical might be fun. And it wasn't as if James could stalk her there. He couldn't sing.

"Ok, but on one condition."

"Yes?"

"You tell me why there is lipstick on the neck of Frank's Quidditch robes?" Alice blushed furiously and gave her a murderous look. "Ok, ok!" she laughed as several third years went past giggling loudly. "I don't want to know. I was only teasing. What musical is it anyway?"

"Guys and Dolls."

"Never heard of it."

"Lily, you uncultured troll!"

Lily walked to transfiguration, knowing that there would be hell to pay when she got there 15 minutes late, but not caring very much. A musical might, as Alice said, be mildly enjoyable.


	2. Why did you do that?

**Thanks for all your reviews! I hope you enjoy this one!**

When Lily walked into Transfiguration 15 minutes late, she was immediately and forcibly reminded of exactly why she avoided James Potter. As soon as she stepped through the door, a wreath of lilies appeared above her head, tiny golden birds flying around it, twittering and diving through the flowers. Shocked, Lily looked up to see a curiously watching class and a grinning James Potter.

"Hey Lily, will you go out with me?"

She pretended to consider for a moment in mock concentration. Then she deliberately lifted a hand, grabbed the wreath, and placed it on the floor. Then she stomped hard on it, enjoying the slight intake of breath from the class. She looked up. James Potter was no longer smiling, and neither was Professor Switch. Lily only had time to give Potter a brief, yet murderous glance, before Switch spoke.

"Lily, as you can see, you are late. We are transfiguring insects today. Please remain after class to discuss the time of your detention."

Seething, Lily turned to sit down. She realised too late that there was only one seat left. The one next to James Potter.

"Sir, I can't sit down."

Professor Switch surveyed her over the top of his glasses.

"You can't sit down?" he echoed.

"No, Professor."

"Do you mean you have been jinxed or hexed in such a way that makes it physically impossible for you to sit?"

"No Professor. There are no seats that I can sit in."

She stood defiantly facing him. From her left Elle was shooting her frantic glares that clearly said, 'This is dangerous Lils, stop!' She ignored them.

"Evans, I see no reason why you cannot sit next to Potter for today."

The class was watching, interested now.

"Well sir, I'm concerned that if I sit next to Potter I may become physically sick."

"We'll risk it. Sit."

"But Professor, I –"

"SIT!"

Lily sat as far away from Potter as the cramped desk would allow. She was very aware of her nearness to him, and the fact she was aware of this scared her, as did her tendency to fly into crazy moods in his presence.

"Evans, why do you hate me?" asked a soft voice near her ear.

No answer.

"OK, Evans, why do you love me so much?"

"I _don't_!"

"_Methinks the lady protesteth too much_."

"Shut up."

Lily accompanied this with what she hoped was a withering glare and looked back at the dragonfly she had just transfigured.

"I will now collect your homework. Please have it ready as I come around," came the reedy voice of Professor Switch.

Lily groaned. She had completely forgotten to write her essay on transfiguring objects into insects. And she already had a detention from Switch.

"Forgot to do it?" queried James, half smiling.

"Yes. Want to rub it in my face, do you? Want to gloat over the fact that you did it and studious Lily Evans didn't? Well I don't care,_ Potter." _She spat the last word out like it was an insult. She felt unexplainable anger, as so often happened when she was in James' company, and for what seemed the hundredth time, she wondered why.

James studied her face for a moment and then tapped his wand on the piece of parchment containing his homework. Instantly the writing changed, becoming neater and smaller. The name at the top was now Lily Evans.

Lily stared, surprised and shocked.

He was not a moment too soon. Professor Swift had just arrived at their desk and was holding out an expectant hand. Lily cleared her throat, but James swiftly kicked her under the table.

"Here's Lily's homework. About my essay…I accidently, um…that is to say, I…sort of…forgot?"

He trailed off. Lily was amazed. Not only was James Potter covering for her, but he was actually doing a pretty good bit of acting to go with it.

"Mr Potter, are you telling me that you have not done your homework?"

James looked down, a picture of guilt.

"I shall expect you at detention with Lily. Remain after class please."

The professor moved on up the class. Lily was dumbfounded. James gave her a sideways smile.

"Wha-…? How…? You…" Lily stammered, accidently upsetting a bottle of ink that spilled over Potter's books.

"I'm sorry… tergeo!" She siphoned off the ink with her wand.

"Neat," said James. "I'll have to practice that one."

"How? And why?"

"It's a useful spell. I'm dead clumsy. It'd be useful to be able to clean up all the messes I make.

"It works on all liquids, even when they're dry. But that wasn't what I meant. How and why did you just pass off your homework as mine? As much as Lily hated to admit it, she thought James' bit of magic had been pretty impressive. She'd never had the impression that James did anything at school except congratulate himself on being what he considered perfect.

"Oh. Well, being a marauder, I spend a lot of time doing forgery. You know, notes saying why we're late to class, um, signatures to get us into the restricted section of the library, even fake IDs to get us drinks at the three broomsticks. Not that one of my notes would have been much use to you today. There's no way that Swift would have accepted it. He's in a foul mood, in case you haven't noticed. But that was the first time I've changed a whole essay and the name at the top."

"But how did you copy my handwriting so well?"

"Well, I copied it off that bit of parchment sticking out of your book." James' tone became teasing. "I didn't know Lily Evans passed notes in class. The one that says 'James Potter is so up himself. He's such a…'"

Lily went bright red, mortified. James' selflessness in giving her his essay had put her off her guard. In the short time she had been talking with James – actually talking, rather than throwing insults, she had forgotten that she hated him, had dropped her defenses, her wall of hostility. James' comment brought her back to reality, but rather than making her angry again, it made her feel ashamed.

"You didn't…I didn't…" she spluttered.

"It's OK. I mean, it's not exactly a secret that you hate me, is it?"

Lily bit her lip, unsure of what to say. This morning she would have agreed wholeheartedly with James' comment. Now, she was not so sure.

"And why wouldn't you? I spend all my time around you acting like an idiot. But why did I change my essay? Well, you already have detention, and given Switch's mood, failing to do your homework would probably result in at least 10 points from Gryffindor, and wonderful chaser though I am, I– "

"Since when have you cared about losing points Potter? You lose more points for Gryffindor on your own than the rest of the house put together!" Keen to make up for the drop in her defenses, Lily spoke more sharply than she had intended. There was a bitter edge to her voice, put there by all the times she had won points for her house during class, only to have them deducted again due to one of Potter's stupid pranks.

James shrugged.

"I didn't want you to get in trouble. And of course," he said with what was evidently supposed to be a disarming smile, "I get to spend detention with you."

"That is sad. Really sad. You'll go so far as to get a _detention_ to spend time with me."

"Well, you tend to avoid me at all costs, so…"

"That's because you stalk me! And try giving your wand more of a flick with the beetles."

"Thanks. And I _don't_ stalk you. I just have a higher than normal interest in your day to day activities."

"In other words, you stalk me."

James looked at her, a slightly pained expression on his face.

"Look Lily – can I call you that? – I'm sorry if I've freaked you out or anything. It's just that I've never met anybody like you."

Lily felt a bit flattered by this, but tried not to show it.

"And also, I've been making a real effort this year not to be quite so arrogant and up myself."

"Sorry to break it to you, but there hasn't been a vast amount of difference."

"Yes, well, I've always acted a bit oddly around you in case you haven't noticed." He gave a sad sort of smile. "I won't pretend some of the things you've said to me haven't hurt, but somehow I forget about that when I'm with you."

Lily sat in silence, digesting this. In the past she had always snubbed James Potter without a second thought. Suddenly, in the space of one conversation, she had learnt that James Potter had feelings, and may have been hurt by what she said. She had realised that she could treat him no longer like an annoying fly that had to be swatted away whenever it got too close. She opened her mouth to say something, to apologise, but before she could speak the bell rang. There was a flurry of movement around them.

"We'd better organise that detention" James said matter-of-factly.

Lily walked to the front of the class behind James, utterly bewildered by her feelings. She nodded mutely as Switch and James organised a time and then wandered back towards Gryffindor tower as though in a dream.

"Are you OK?" asked Alice, when she climbed through the portrait hole. "You look as though you've seen a ghost! Not that unusual here at Hogwarts, but still-" Lily collapsed into a chair, "Lily!"

"I've just discovered that James Potter has …feelings." She said in an incredulous wondering voice.

Alice smiled and left Lily to her contemplation. There would be time for analysis later.


	3. A hazard of being redhaired

**Just a short chapter, hope you enjoy!**

Lily's detention was at 7 o'clock on Wednesday evening. Switch sent a note telling her that she would be clearing out the store cupboards. He forgot to add the phrase "without magic" however, so Lily was confident that it wouldn't take too long.

She was sitting with Alice and Elle, whiling away the time before she had to report to Switch's office.

"What I don't understand though," Alice was saying, "is how you managed to be late AND forget to do your homework, and you still managed to escape with only a detention."

Lily shrugged, avoiding her gaze. She had not told Alice about James' actions, as she was certain that Alice would obsess over them, and right now she did not feel much like talking about James Potter.

In the days between the lesson and their detention together, she had reverted to her usual treatment of James, calling him _'Potter' _with as much malice as she could when she had to talk to him, and otherwise ignoring him. He had asked her out at least three times in the past two days, and each time she had said no. It had become a habit to say that when he talked to her, a fact that she was glad of, because sometimes he concealed the fact he was asking her out very sneakily and successfully.

Elle looked up from her homework with a surprised expression.

"Lily _did_ do her homework Al! She got an O for it, too!" Elle said, shooting Lily an admiring and envious glance.

Of the three, Lily did the best at school. Alice spent too much time doing 'nothing' with Frank and Elle was an erratic studier, working flat out for 5 hours in a row, and then not touching her books for the next week. She was the prettiest of them though, and had a very sweet personality.

"No, she couldn't have done it. I was sitting with her the whole time we were doing homework."

"When you guys have finished talking about me in third person, I'll tell you what happened."

They looked at her with expectant expressions.

"You're both right. I didn't do it, but I handed it in and it got an 'O' grade. I don't know exactly how it got that, given James' level of study, but – "

"James who?"

"Potter."

"What? Lily! You never call James, James!"

"Well I do now, OK?"

"Hmmm?" Elle suspiciously.

Lily sighed. She had known this was coming.

"I forgot to do my homework. James had done the essay. He transfigured his handwriting to look like mine and changed the name on it, and pretended he had forgotten to do his."

"Why would he do that?" said Elle, clearly puzzled. "I mean, you've never exactly encouraged him to be nice to you. Most of the time you're pretty horrible to him actually, so…"

"He said it was because he didn't want me to lose points for Gryffindor."

"As if!" Alice scoffed.

"But didn't he lose points anyway?" asked Elle

"No, he got detention, as well. With me, actually." Lily felt herself blush slightly.

"Wow. That is SO romantic Lilz." Elle sighed, rapturously.

"Yeah, because cleaning store cupboards is _such _a romantic thing to do together." Lily said sarcastically.

"He obviously just wanted to get detention with you so he could spend time alone with you." Said Alice matter-of-factly. "I'm interested in your blush though, Lil"

"It's a hazard of being red-haired." Lily said, in what she hoped was a casually disinterested voice.

"Hmmm," mused Alice. "If I didn't know better Lily Evans, I'd say that you're developing a bit of a crush."

"I've got to go." Lily hastily gathered her books and walked towards the portrait hole.

She did NOT have a crush on James Potter! It was an absurd thought. She COULD not have a crush on James Potter. Or could she? She didn't want to even consider it.

**R+R?**


	4. Detention

**Wow, I havn't put anything up for a long time! But here is (finally) the next installment. Hope you like it! **

_For all those people who have a secret fear of spiders_

When Lily arrived at detention James Potter was already there, casually leaning against the wall, arms crossed, an annoyingly serene expression on his face. Well, this wouldn't be the first time he'd been on detention.

She walked towards him, feeling slightly self conscious at the way he was staring at her. His expression was so blank. He was curiously unreadable, an irritating trait in any person, and even more irritating in James Potter.

Lily hesitated, feeling her face flush slightly. It was just the fact that he was looking at her so hard, she told herself. She'd blush if anyone stared at her like that.

If James noticed the blush, he didn't show it. As Lily drew level with him, he pushed himself upright.

"Shall we go in?" he asked her, all politeness. Lily gave him a distrustful look.

"After you" she said.

He knocked on the door before turning the handle and pushing it, holding it open for Lily. She walked through.

Professor Switch was sitting at his desk, pretending to be writing something very important. Lily leaned forward slightly to see what it was, and as she did so, lost her balance. She stumbled forwards, but just before she hit the desk, a strong pair of hands caught her waist, pulling her backwards. James' hands lingered on her waist, as two of Lily's fundamental instincts came into play.

Her strong, feminist side, fought against this obvious display of masculine power, a remnant of thousands of years of misogynistic scum like James Potter walking the earth. She was a strong, independent, empowered woman. She did not need his protection.

But a softer side of her thrilled at his touch, making her heart beat faster, and causing her blush to deepen. She swung her hair forwards to hide her face, as, for just a moment, she was not uptight Lily Evans, but just another teenage girl.

The moment passed, and Lily removed Potter's hands from her waist, more gently perhaps, than she would have usually.

He noticed this, raising an eyebrow, but saying nothing.

Switch had finished whatever it was he was doing. He straightened up and fixed his eyes upon them.

Professor Switch was one of those people who wear glasses for the sole purpose of being able to take them off and polish them slowly, before snapping them firmly in place and fixing the unlucky student in front of him with a glare that would freeze the lake solid. As it was, his maneuver lost some of its intensity when he failed to get one of the arms over his rather prominent ear, but the effect was enough to perhaps freeze a small puddle.

James watched in some amusement as Switch attempted to salvage the situation, finally taking the glasses off altogether.

He cleared his throat. "Potter, Evans, I would like you to clear out the store cupboards in my classroom. It should not take long. When you are done, please come back and let me know so I can lock up."

Lily turned to go, and felt Potter following close behind her.

Switch's classroom was cold when they reached it, the fire having been put out earlier. Lily muttered "_Inflamare"_ And a fire crackled in the grate.

"Nice" James approved. Lily gave him a 'don't-think-flattery-will-get-you-anywhere-you-bullying-dungheap' look and turned to the store cupboards. She was ashamed of her moment of weakness earlier and was determined not to allow anything like it to happen again.

"Right, _Potter_, I will clear out this one, and you can do that one, and that way I won't have to look at you."

"Or" James said, grinning, "I could just use magic and clear up both of them, and then we could sit down and relax and have a little chat."

"I like my idea better."

"You'd seriously rather clean up that mess than talk to me?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'd appreciate it if you'd stay silent for the duration of this unpleasant experience."

"Wow, I must be really bad." James put on a hurt expression. "I even washed after quidditch practice and everything!"

Lily ignored him. It was still rather cold in the room, and she wanted to get started as soon as possible. She began pulling things out of the cupboard. James gave her an appraising look, before turning to his own one. It was actually fairly tidy. He looked over to Lily. She'd managed to pull what looked like the entire contents of her store cupboard out and strewn it haphazardly over the floor. She was rustling around at the back, her red hair falling in a sheet of copper, blocking her face from view.

Suddenly she screamed, falling backwards.

"Oh Merlin, there's a – a – a _thing _in there!"

James looked at her. He said nothing. After all, she had told him expressly not to talk to him.

"Potter, come here and kill it for me."

James did not move. Lily was almost hysterical with fright as she watched the progress of something that James could not see.

Lily looked over to him. She was crying. She spoke softly.

"James Potter, I know I asked you not to talk to me, but could you please, _please _come and kill this spider for me."

Lily's green eyes fixed on James' hazel ones.

"By all means" he said, with exaggerated politeness. He stood and walked over the Lily. The spider was a large, hairy black one, and James would not have ordinarily questioned a girls reaction to it. But this was Lily. Lily, who he had seen go into the forbidden forest on a dare in their first year. Lily, who had climbed out the window of the common room and hung there, one handed, to rescue her friend Alice's kitten. Lily, who had, without trepidation, slapped him, James, across the face on numerous occasions. James was used to Lily-the-brave. He was unsure how to deal with this new, fragile and vulnerable version.

"Eugh, Evans I don't want to touch it!" James was not _afraid _of spiders as such. He just harboured a healthy respect for them.

"Please?"

"Oh, fine."

He did not kill the spider. He did not like killing things as a rule.

"_Wingardium Leviosa" _he said, pointing his wand at the spider. He directed it, legs waving madly (Lily gave a frightened sob as it passed over her head) out the window.

"All gone" he proclaimed cheerfully. Lily did not say anything. She was still curled into a ball on the floor, staring straight ahead with wide eyes.

"Evans?" James crouched next to her, concerned.

"I'm fine," she whispered, her eyes still brimming with tears. She felt utterly drained. Brave as Lily Evans was, she was terrified of spiders. Had been ever since she had awoken as a young girl to find one crawling on her face.

"No, you're not. You look terrible. You're pale as a ghost and…Merlin's beard Evans, you're shaking!"

"I'm so…cold" Lily murmured, shivering violently. James did the only thing he could possibly think of at that moment. He put his arms around her, cautiously at first, remembering the last slap she had given him. She buried her face in his chest and began crying in earnest. James pulled her closer and held her, until she started to recover.

"I'm so…silly! You must think me so silly! Only a spider, after all, but…oh…" She clung to him, needing his warmth, needing to feel safe.

"I don't think you're silly at all Evans." James said softly.

"Call me Lily, please?"

"Only if you call me James." He was teasing her slightly now that she seemed to be regaining her senses.

"Done" she said.

He was itching to kiss her, thinking that he would never have such a good opportunity again.

Lily wanted nothing more than to kiss him, aware somewhere in the back of her mind that she might never again be in such a situation.

Perhaps he saw some of this in her eyes, or perhaps he was just letting some of the old James back into his actions, for when she had calmed down a little, he turned her around slightly, and pushing her beautiful hair behind her ears, kissed her.

He had expected her to push him away at the very least, possibly even to hex him into a million pieces. Instead, she kissed him back, her lips urgent against his, needing him.

He pushed her up against the store cupboard, his hands entwining in her hair, as she parted her lips slightly, and they continued kissing as if there was no tomorrow.

A knock on the door made them spring apart. Lily anxiously tucked her shirt back into her skirt, fumbling to do up the buttons, and James pulled his t-shirt straight. He looked at his watch. It was past midnight.

"Damn". he had completely lost track of time. The room was dark, the floor still strewn with debris from Lily's cupboard.

"Here". Lily muttered a hasty incantation and everything sprang into perfect order in the shelves.

They could not be caught in here. It would mean 50 points from Gryffindor and a weeks worth of detention at the very least, not to mention all the snide comments and glances they would get in the corridors. They were together, in a classroom, after midnight, and they had not exactly been studying either.

As the door handle turned James grabbed his invisibility cloak from inside his robes, throwing it over both of them. He put a finger to his lips as Switch's long nose appeared around the door. Lily froze as Switch turned on the lights. He glanced around, and then, apparently satisfied, switched them off and left, locking the door behind him. Lily exhaled in relief as James pulled the cloak off them.

"What is that cloak?" she asked.

"It's an invisibility cloak. Dad gave it to me. Dead useful."

"You don't say." Lily yawned, realising how tired she was.

"We ought to get to bed" Said James, walking towards the door. He tapped it with his wand. "_Alohamora."_ James turned to face her. "Best go under the cloak I think. You never know who might be wandering the corridors."

They walked slowly up to Gryffindor tower, stopping to kiss in the entrance hall, and again on the stairs, before parting to go up to separate dormitories. Neither was quite sure what had happened, but both felt, deep down, that it could not last.


End file.
